Lectio
“For they, as being strong, are able even in the midst of the raging of the waters to enjoy a calm; but thou, who art leaky on every side, hast need of tranquility, and to take breath a little, after the successive waves. Go then there continually, that, having purged away the abiding stain by their prayers and admonitions, you may both pass in the best manner the present life, and attain unto the good things to come, by the grace and love towards man of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom and with whom, be unto the Father, together with the Holy Ghost, glory, might, honor, now and ever, and world without end. Amen.”
— St. John Chrysostom. Homily 72 on the Gospel of Saint Matthew
Meditatio
Our transformation in Christ begins, first, with an encounter with Christ. Whether in a graced moment of personal, intimate revelation, or in an interaction with His body, the church, in one of the myriad ways that body manifests in the world — someone preaching the Word, the sacrament of the holy Mass, or simply the kindness of a stranger whose love, Christ’s love, uncovers a longing deep inside of us to become one with that same body we encountered. Regardless of how we come to Christ, He came to us first, in the incarnation, through the Holy Spirit, in Scripture, and in His body, the church.
These encounters with Christ, if we allow them to, if our hearts are open to them and not hardened beyond the point of being reached, change us — sometimes immediately, like St. Paul’s revelation on the road to Damascus which appeared to him suddenly in both vision and voice, leaving him blind for three days, or sometimes slowly, over many days, months, and years, like St. Peter, who needed to fall many times — on the sea, in the garden, in his denial — before finally confessing His undying love to Christ. Oftentimes, more like St. Peter, it is the repeated encounter of Christ over time — in Scripture, in Mass, or simply in a loving family member, friend, or acquaintance — that slowly opens us up to all of the grace, love, and mercy that Christ has to offer.
For many of us, we need to be convinced over time to give our lives to the one who gave His life for us. Our hardened hearts need to be chipped away at by the repeated encounter with Christ until, through the cracks, the light of Christ may enter to meet the light of Christ within. And so we need others to model Christ’s life for us — to be the calm in the storm of thoughts and feelings that seems to bombard us at every turn, the breath of life amidst the crashing waves of life which never seem to let up, or the rock of stability in an ever-changing world to which we can cling as we learn to cling, instead, to Christ whom we have met through them.
And all of this so that someday, the Lord hopes, we can become this encounter for others. So that someday we may return love for love and give freely of the grace, mercy, and kindness that has been so freely given to us. That, as we are transformed in Christ, Christ, too, lives in us and through us in the world, and gives our lives in love to others as He gave His life to us, both on the Cross and through the persons who have loved us by being our encounter with Him in this world, drawing all souls who long for Him into Him. For He desires that all souls come to know Him, that through Him they may choose to not only be with Him, but to be conformed to Him in their own unique way and through their own personal calling.
Oratio
The Face Of Another
in the darkness
in my desperation
in the dead of night
with no sign of dawn
on the horizon
You came to me
in a vision
in the Word
in the face of another
speaking to me of love
lighting my way with love
a direct encounter with Love
Contemplatio
You are not asked to arrive at this all at once. Little by little, encounter by encounter, He is shaping you into something you cannot yet see. Let today’s small opening be enough. Hold this in stillness, withholding nothing, and let Him move as He will.
Related Scripture
“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.”
— 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NRSVCE)
For Further Reading
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Fleeing the God Who Waits: Thomas Merton, Distraction, and Love, which meets this same need for continual return to God from another angle — not through the calming grace of repeated encounter, but through what it costs us when we keep running from the God who waits.
Robert Van Valkenburgh
Grappling With Divinity.
Wrestling With God.
Returning To Love.
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